


But Only In Dream

by mushiemadarame



Series: Supernatural Fics From Tumblr [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Drabble, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-09-15 06:14:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16927983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mushiemadarame/pseuds/mushiemadarame
Summary: The first thing he saw was the bone-dagger hanging from the wall, a reminder of their time in Purgatory, and Castiel felt a twitch behind his eyes, a pinch to his memories, things he’d rather not think about.





	But Only In Dream

Contrary to what Sam and Dean thought, the bat cave – or simply, the Men of Letters’ base – wasn’t protected against angels. The reason must have been that angels hadn’t been seen on Earth for centuries when it had been built, but anyway, Castiel was glad for that small blessing.   
  
When he finally found the brothers, it was a Tuesday night, or rather Wednesday morning, and Dean was asleep in his bed. Castiel quietly slipped into the room and looked around.   
  
The first thing he saw was the bone-dagger hanging from the wall, a reminder of their time in Purgatory, and Castiel felt a twitch behind his eyes, a pinch to his memories, things he’d rather not think about.   
  
He stood still, looking around him for a brief minute until his eyes stopped on the sleeping form under the covers. He shuffled to the bed and sat delicately to the hunter’s side, careful not to wake him.   
  
He hesitantly made to reach with his hand, but stopped midway, before reaching Dean’s cheek, afraid of going against Dean’s will, his aversion to touching, and disappeared in a rustle of feathers.   
  
Dean woke up with a start.   
  
~   
  
The second time Castiel visited the Winchesters, he made sure they were asleep first.   
  
This time, he didn’t go to Dean’s room. He took the opportunity to put up wards around the base against angels, or at least started doing so, knowing that when he was finished, he wouldn’t be able to visit the brothers anymore, but not trusting his kin not to hurt the Winchesters.   
  
He started from the main entrance, cut his hand deep and drew a sigil in his blood on the heavy door. The thing shook and shone brightly for a second, to then settle, and the writing disappeared, hidden from human eyes.   
  
After leaving two others, one in the library and one in the kitchen, he went to Dean’s door and drew another on the outside.   
  
He turned the knob weakly, then, and slipped inside once again.   
  
Dean was sleeping on his back, with a pillow covering half his face, snoring softly, he was wearing an old t-shirt with a frayed collar that hung low on his left shoulder, showing the upper profile of his protective tattoo.   
  
Castiel sat at his side once again, leaning heavily with his elbows on his knees, and looked at the floor, words unspoken on his tongue. He stayed there for an hour, unmoving until Dean started stirring, sleep disturbed.   
  
Then he disappeared again, and Dean slowly opened his eyes, confused.   
  
~   
  
When Castiel visited next, he had to drag his bloody self through the front door. The sigils had started working, but that wasn’t really the problem. Castiel had a deep wound on his side, blood seeping through his shirt and jacket, slightly staining his coat.   
  
He shuffled painfully to Dean’s room and struggled not to fall onto the bed when he went to sit down. His vision blurry, he didn’t pay much attention to Dean, trying to concentrate on his wound, difficult to “magically” heal in the confines of the sigils he himself had put on the building.   
  
He closed his eyes and the wound slowly secured, the stain of blood retreating from his clothes.   
  
Just then he looked at Dean, a relaxed expression on the hunter’s profile was all he could see from where he was sitting. He let his hand slide on the bed, slowly reaching the back of Dean’s head and very carefully caressed the hair at the nape, letting himself feel the unexpected softness.   
  
He retreated his hand quickly when a muffled sound escaped the hunter’s lips and, scared by how Dean would react if he woke up, disappeared again.   
  
Dean almost fell down the bed in his haste to wake up.   
  
~   
  
For the next week, Dean had trouble sleeping. That’s the reason why, when Castiel visited again, Dean was awake.   
  
He had been lying on his bed with his eyes closed for so long that he couldn’t tell, and when he heard the sound of feathers in the air, he didn’t move.   
  
Castiel walked to the bed and stood up right beside it for what felt like half an hour to Dean, but was in fact just a couple of minutes. The hunter was about to open his eyes when he felt the bed dip next to his stomach and the hot weight of Castiel’s hand on his left shoulder where his scar was long gone.   
  
Castiel sat there without moving and just when Dean started thinking again of opening his eyes, he caressed the skin there, going back and forward with his thumb.   
  
Then suddenly, seemingly without reason, Cas left.   
  
Dean sat up, confusion clouding his mind, and squeezed his shoulder just where Cas’ hand had been.   
  
He didn’t manage to sleep a full night again for another week.   
  
~   
  
The next time it happened, Dean had been asleep at first.   
  
Castiel popped into his room when the clock was just turning to 4 AM, he took off his coat and jacket and let both fall to the ground before folding the right arm of his shirt and sitting close to Dean’s sleeping form, slightly turned towards him.   
  
He lifted his hand and rested it gingerly on Dean’s forehead, and that was when Dean woke up.   
  
The hunter was just about to jump the intruder when he realized it was Cas again, so he stayed still with his eyes closed and enjoyed the delicate touch of Castiel’s hand, who was now brushing the hair from his forehead.   
  
He thought about saying something, about asking what he was doing, why, and where the hell he’d been all this time. Instead, he reached for Castiel’s wrist, and before he could disappear again, he carefully gripped it and opened his eyes.   
  
Castiel looked mortified and scared, expected his arm to be twisted and to be screamed at.   
  
Dean just squeezed his wrist briefly and pulled the hand towards his mouth, kissed the palm and whispered   
  
“I missed you.”

**Author's Note:**

> In an attempt to save my years-old drabbles in the case of a Tumblr shut down, I decided to publish them here too.  
> Please be gentle, these are very old and I'm a different person ^^'  
> If you have any suggestions for tags I should add, please do let me know!


End file.
